Ananda Shipyard building ships for S'porean co

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FE Report
The country's pioneering shipbuilder Ananda Shipyard and Slipways Tuesday started constructing two ocean-going vessels for a Singaporean company in a further sign of emergence of Bangladesh as a new ship-making destination, an official said Tuesday.
Director of the company Rokibur Rahman said the two ships weighing 6100 dead weight tonnes and valued at US$ 23.9 million (Tk1.67 billion) will be built at Ananda's Meghnaghat shipyard within the next two years.
"We will hand over the ships to the Singaporean buyer-Hildebrand Singapore Pvt. Ltd.-by October 2010," he said.
Managing director of Ananda Afrooza Bari and representative of Hildebrand Saifuddin Qamar jointly keeled off the construction work of the two vessels at a simple ceremony.
Ananda signed the agreement with the Singaporean company in July last year, but needed months to complete further negotiations and formalities.
The two are among a fleet of 34 small and medium capacity ocean-going ships Ananda is ordered to build by top shipping companies from Europe, Africa and Asia. The orders are valued at around $400 million.
The company has signed ship-making deals with the Maldives and Mozambique governments and companies from Denmark, Germany and Singapore.
Ananda was first to transform itself from a maker of launches and inland cargo vessels into a successful builder of small ocean-going vessels. Last month, it exported its first ocean-going vessel to a Danish company.
Officials said another six vessels ordered by Mozambique government have already been built and will be handed over to the buyer by the first week of November.
Ananda's success has placed Bangladesh firmly on the global shipbuilding map since early 2007, with new companies now quickly setting up shipyards and slipways to win orders from ocean-going vessel operators.
Two more companies, Western Marine and Highspeed Shipbuilding, have also wooed orders worth around $250 million from Danish, German and Dutch companies.
Half a dozen top companies have also entered the lucrative business to tap into the $200 billion worth of global small shipbuilding market.